The Stamps of Canada Part 7

On letters to Newfoundland, to be in all cases prepaid, 12-1/2c per 1/2 oz.

On letters to British Columbia and Vancouver Island, in all cases to be prepaid, 10 cents per 1/2 oz.

On letters to Red River, to be in all cases prepaid, 6 cents per 1/2 oz.

NEWSPAPER RATES.

8.--Newspapers printed and published in Canada may be sent by Post from the office of publication to any place in Canada at the following rates, if paid quarterly in advance, either by the Publisher, at the Post Office where the papers are posted, or by the subscriber, at the Post Office where the papers are delivered:--

For a paper published once a week, 5 cents per quarter of a year.

For a paper published twice a week, 10 cents per quarter.

For a paper published three times, 15 cents per quarter.

For a paper published six times, 30 cents per quarter.

If the above rates are prepaid by the Publisher, the Postmaster receiving payment must be careful to have the papers so prepaid separately put up, and marked, distinctly, as prepaid.

When the above rates are not prepaid in advance, by either the Publisher at the office of posting or by the subscriber at the office of delivery, the papers are to be charged one cent each on delivery.

9.--Canadian Newspapers, addressed from the Office of publication to subscribers in the United Kingdom, the United States, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, may be forwarded, on prepayment at the Office in Canada where posted, at the above commuted rates, applicable to such papers within the Dominion.

10.--Exchange Papers pa.s.sing between publishers in Canada, between publishers in Canada and publishers in the United States, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, are to pa.s.s free--one copy of each paper to each publisher.

11.--Transient Newspapers include all Newspapers posted in Canada, other than Canadian Newspapers sent from the Office of publication, and when addressed to any place within the Dominion, to the United Kingdom, to the United States, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland, must be prepaid two cents each by postage stamp.

12.--Newspapers coming into Canada will be subject to the following charges on delivery:--

If from the United Kingdom, by mail packet to Quebec, Halifax or Portland--Free on delivery.

By mails via the United States (New York), two cents each.

If from the United States, two cents each, to be rated at the Canada Frontier, or exchange office receiving mails from the United States.

If from Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland, when received by regular subscribers in Canada from the Office of publication, the ordinary commuted rates applicable to Canada Newspapers.

Transient Papers--two cents each.

13.--The Canada Postage rates on Newspapers coming or going to the United Kingdom and the United States, will thus be the same as those charged in the United Kingdom and the United States on Newspapers there received from or sent to Canada.

14.--Canada News Agents may post to regular subscribers in Canada, British Newspapers free, and United States Newspapers unpaid, such papers in the latter case, must be duly rated two cents each for collection on delivery.

PRINTED PAPERS, CIRCULARS, PRICES CURRENT, HAND BILLS, BOOKS, PAMPHLETS.

15.--The rate on printed matter of this description posted in Canada, and addressed to any place in Canada, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland or the United States, will be one cent per ounce, to be prepaid by Postage Stamp; and a like rate will be payable on delivery, when received from the United States, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland.

PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS.

16.--When posted in Canada, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland or the United States, the rate will be one cent per four ounces.

17.--A like rate will be payable on delivery in Canada, when received for the United States, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland.

18.--Periodicals weighing less than one ounce per number, when posted in Canada for any place within the Dominion, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland or the United States may, when put up singly, pa.s.s for one-half cent per number, to be prepaid by Postage Stamp.

19.--As the Postage Rates on Periodicals, other than Newspapers, will be payable in advance, and as certain cla.s.ses of such periodicals, printed and published in Canada, and sent from the office of publication to regular subscribers, have for some time past been exempted from postage when exclusively devoted to the education of youth, to temperance, agriculture and science, or for other reasons, it is ordered, that with respect to periodicals which do now enjoy this privilege or exemption, the exemption shall continue until the expiration of the current year--that is, until the 31st December, 1868, and that from the 1st January, 1869, all such special exemptions and privileges shall cease.

PARCEL POST.

20.--The rate on Parcels, by Parcel Post, will be 12-1/2 cents per 8 ounces, that is to say:--

On a parcel not exceeding 8 oz., 12-1/2 cents.

Over 8 oz., and not exceeding 1 lb., 25 cents.

Over 1 lb. and not exceeding 24 oz., 37-1/2 cents.

And so on, to the limit of three lbs.

BOOK AND NEWSPAPER Ma.n.u.sCRIPT, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS MATTER.

21. On Book and Newspaper Ma.n.u.script (meaning written articles intended for insertion in a newspaper or periodical, and addressed to the Editor or Publisher thereof, for insertion), Printers' Proof Sheets, whether corrected or not, Maps, Prints, Drawings, Engravings, Music, whether printed or written, packages of Seeds, Cuttings, Roots, Scions or Grafts, and Botanical Specimens, the rate will be 1 cent per ounce, when posted for any place in Canada or the United States, and prepaid by Postage Stamp.

POSTAGE STAMPS.

22.--To enable the Public to prepay conveniently by Postage Stamps the foregoing rates, the following denominations of Postage Stamps for use throughout the Dominion, have been prepared, and will be supplied to Postmasters for sale:--

Half cent Stamps } One cent do. } Two cent do. } All bearing, Three cent do. } as a device, Six cent do. } the effigy Twelve and a half cent do. } of Her Majesty.

Fifteen cent do. }

23.--The Postage Stamps now in use in the several Provinces may be accepted, as at present, in prepayment of letters, etc., for a reasonable time after the 1st. of April; but from and after that date all issues and sales to the public will be of the new denomination.

The section regarding "Franking and Free Matter" provides that only letters sent to or by the Governor-General, the Speaker or Chief Clerk of the Senate or of the House of Commons, Parliamentary papers, and legislative doc.u.ments, such as pet.i.tions, addresses, and votes, shall be carried free of postage.

The most important change effected by the above quoted regulations was the reduction of domestic postage from five cents to three cents. It will be noted there are now no prepaid 5c or 17c rates and but one at 10c (on letters sent to British Columbia and Vancouver Island) consequently these denominations were dropped from the new series. On the other hand the 1/2c rate on transient newspapers, which had to be prepaid, the regular 3c letter rate, the 6c rate to the United States, and 15c for the new British Packet rate made necessary the issue of these four values in addition to the 1c, 2c, and 12-1/2c denominations, which were retained. All these stamps were printed by the line-engraved process, as in the case of the earlier issues, the sheets consisting of one hundred specimens arranged in ten horizontal rows of ten each. A new firm--the British American Bank Note Company, of Montreal and Ottawa--were entrusted with the manufacture of these stamps and, like their predecessors, they applied their imprint to the plates, so that it is shown four times on the margins of the sheets of the printed stamps.

Mr. Howes describes the imprint as follows:--

The imprint appears in colorless capitals on a narrow strip of color with bossed ends, and reads BRITISH AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO., MONTREAL & OTTAWA. This strip is framed by a very thin parallel line, its entire width being but one millimeter, while its length is about 51 mm. It occurs but once on a side, being placed against the middle two stamps (numbers 5 and 6) of each row at a distance of about 3 mm. The inscription reads up on the left and down on the right, as before, but the bottom one is now upright, instead of being reversed.

In the case of the half cent stamp at least, we find an additional marginal imprint over the second and third stamps of the top row.

This consists of the words HALF CENT, in shaded Roman capitals 4 mm. high, the whole being about 40 mm. long. Presumably the same thing, varied for each denomination, occurs on other values of the series, as we find it does on the succeeding issue; but a strip from the top of a sheet of the 15 cent stamps proves that it was lacking on that value at least.

The new stamps came into use on April 1st, 1868, and are all much alike in design. All values show a profile portrait of Queen Victoria, with head to right, on a background of horizontal lines within a circle, but the ornamentation and disposition of the inscriptions and numerals of value in the surrounding frame is different on each. The _Stamp Collector's Magazine_ for May, 1868, in announcing the issue, gives a good description which we cannot forbear quoting, viz:--